News

Broadband network operator nexfibre, which shares some of their parentage with retail ISP partner Virgin Media (O2), has announced that they’ve extended their 2Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) network to cover 9,000 additional homes in the Essex (England) town of Witham. The town is now fairly well covered by Virgin Media and nexfibre’s combined gigabit broadband networks, although there are also smaller patches of FTTP coverage to be found from Openreach, Gigaclear,...

Rural network builder and ISP Fusion Fibre Group (formerly FACTCO), which has built a number of its own FTTP broadband networks for various communities, has today moved to expand their availability across the UK by signing a new wholesale agreement with PlatformX Communications. PXC was formerly known as TalkTalk Wholesale before the demerger (here). At present PXC gives retail ISPs access to create broadband packages across a number of different networks, such as Openreach, CityFibre,...

EY has today published their annual digital home survey of 2,500 UK consumers, which among other things reveals that the cost-of-living crisis has prompted 34% to consider “more economical broadband options” and 5G mobile is increasingly becoming a substitute for traditional home broadband (33% of households are prepared to switch to this, up from 29% in 2023). The ‘Decoding the digital home study 2024‘ study, which also covers various other areas (e.g. TV/video streaming), finds that...

New customers looking to join alternative network provider LightSpeed Broadband, which has built a gigabit-capable broadband (FTTP) network across 250,000 premises in the East of England, may like to know that the ISP are offering 50% off the price of all 24-month packages from 150Mbps up to 2000Mbps (the discount period lasts for 12-months). The provider, which was last year acquired by Kompass Kapital (here), currently claims to have deployments across parts of 32 market towns in South...

Debt-troubled UK broadband ISP TalkTalk recently published their group accounts for the year to 29th February 2024, which reveals that their on-net customer base (fibre FTTP/C and broadband) fell again to 3.6 million (down from 3.94m in 2023). But their Ethernet (leased lines etc.) base grew to 75,000 (up from 69,400). The accounts cover the period BEFORE the group’s recent move to accept a refinancing package worth roughly £400m (here and here), which saved TalkTalk from the immediate risk of...

News The deal is set to boost connectivity in the capital Neos Networks has joined forces with London-based fibre provider Vorboss to offer new high-capacity, last-mile connectivity options in London. The deal will allow Neos Networks’ customers to access Vorboss’s extensive fibre network through the LIVEQUOTE platform, giving businesses a transparent view of prices for services up to 10Gbps. The collaboration comes in response to surging demand for high-bandwidth, affordable connectivity in...

News   The purpose of the extension is to create a point-to-point connection within Southwest Asia, the company said.  Verizon announced a two-year extension to its Global Network Solutions (GNS) contract with the Department of Defence (DoD), boosting the contract’s total value to over $98 million. Originally awarded in 2016, this extension will support secure communication networks in Southwest Asia, a region critical to US government operations.  Under the contract, Verizon will establish a...

Mobile operator Lyca Mobile, which is a virtual network operator (MVNO) on EE’s platform in the UK, has partnered up with global eSIM provider Sim Local to offer “high data plans” (mobile broadband) as a regional eSIM option in the UK, France, Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Portugal and the US (Lyca also offers eSIMs across its network of 23 countries). Just to be clear. Sim Local typically caters to global travellers and allows them to avoid expensive roaming charges by opting to use one...

New customers looking to join Smarty, which is a virtual mobile operator (MVNO) on Three UK’s national network, may like to know that they’ve kicked off their Black Friday deals, such as by doubling the data on their £10 per month 40GB plan to 80GB and offering 15GB for £7 per month (an extra 7GB). All of Smarty’s plans operate off a monthly (30 day) contract term, come with unlimited UK calls and texts, support 4G and 5G connections, unrestricted Tethering, inclusive EU roaming (with a 12GB...

News Among the stories from North America last week, Comcast announced the launch of a new brand in Canada and a major industry advocacy group pledged to work with President-elect Donald Trump to advance rural connectivity in the United States Here’s a look at the five biggest stories over the last week from our sister publication, Broadband Communities:  Comcast announces launch of Rogers Xfinity in Canada  Rogers Communications has announced the first phase of their deployment of Comcast...